Medicated vaginal tampons



March 1955 H. M. M LAUGHLIN MEDICATED VAGINAL TAMPONS Filed Feb. 25, 1954 United fitates Patent MEDICATED VAGINAL TAMPON S Harris M. McLaughlin, Ridgewood, N. J., assignor to Zouite Products Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application February 25, 1954, Serial No. 4l2,-'59 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-263) The present invention relates to medicated vaginal tampons and has for a general object the provision of a unique construction which is readily manufactured and economically assembled whereby simple use thereof may efiect efficient treatment of infections.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide such a tampon in a form characterized by a medicament-loaded, disintegrable capsule constituting the nose of the device and which is ejectable from the sheathing means with the usual body of absorbent material for effective application of the medicament to the infected parts.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claim.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of an embodiment of the tampon device of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, with parts broken away and in axial section, of the device illustrated in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, in which like numerals identify similar parts throughout, it will be seen that the medicated vaginal tampon of the present invention comprises a sheathing tube 5, preferably of cardboard, which has a normally open leading end 6 of certain internal diameter, such as, for example, 0.610", and which may thus have an outside diameter of 0.657". The trailing or back end 7 of the sheathing tube preferably has its edge turned inward, as best seen in Fig. 2, to provide a choking flange means 8 defining a constricted hole 9 which telescopically receives and carries for sliding movement a thrust member 10. The thrust member 10 is preferably in the form of a tubular element, as shown in Fig. 2, and may also be made of cardboard. The tubular thrust member 10 preferably has at least its front end 11 flared to provide an enlargement of a greater external diameter than the constricted hole 9 to prevent its accidental disengagement from the sheathing tube 5 and may, if desired, have its back end 12 likewise flared, as shown, for a similar purpose to limit forward telescopic movement into the sheathing tube.

The sheathing tube 5 houses a compressed body 13 of suitable absorbent material slidably confined therein and with its front end 14 terminating appreciably short of the leading end 6 of the sheathing tube so as to provide a socket 15 of appreciable depth in the leading end of the tube. The body 13 of absorbent material is equipped with the usual pull cord 16 extending out through the tubular thrust member 10.

The nose of the tampon device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 is formed by a half-shell capsule 17 of disintegrable material, such as gelatin, having a rounded tip or nose 18, a substantially cylindrical side wall 19 and an open back end 20. The external diameter of the capsule side wall 19 may be about the same or slightly larger than the internal diameter of the leading end 6 of the sheathing tube 5, such as, for example, 0.610" so as to be snugly received in the latter for frictional retainment while permitting ready discharge ahead of the absorbent body 13, when the latter is expelled from the sheathing tube by the thrust member 10. The capsule 18 may, for example, be of a capacity to house about two grams of medicinal powder 21, which may be, for example, a mild silver protein compound for the treatment of certain types of infection; it is to be understood that the device of the present invention may be employed for the application of a variety of types of medicaments. The open back end 20 of the loaded capsule 17 is effectively closed off by the front end 14 of the absorbent body 13 when both are assembled in the sheathing tube 5 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. It is also preferred that side surfaces of the absorbent body 13, such as along about /5 of its length, be impregnated with the medicament, which when in powdered form, may be applied by dusting.

The medicated vaginal tampon as illustrated in the drawing is used in the usual manner with the capsule 17 being ejected from the leading end 6 of the sheathing tube 5 ahead of the absorbent body 13 when the latter is expelled from the sheathing tube by forward thrust of the tubular member 10. This assures direct application of the medicament to the affected parts.

If desired, these tampon units may be suitably housed in any desired manner, such as, for example, in capped, rigid, aluminum tubes, or collapsible metallic tubes, or hermetically-sealed wrappers of metallic foil which may be laminated with plastic.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efiiciently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having describedmy invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A medicated vaginal tampon comprising, in combination, a sheathing tube having a trailing end and an open leading end of certain internal diameter, a compressed body of absorbent material slidably confined in said tube and having a front end terminating appreciably short of the leading end of said tube to provide a socket in the latter, a tubular thrust member telescopically carried by the trailing end of said tube for expulsion of said body therefrom with a pull cord attached to said body removably extending through said tubular member, a cylindrical half-shell capsule of disintegrable material having a rounded nose and an open back end of such external diameter as to be frictionally and removably held in said socket with said body closing the back end, and a load of medicinal powder in said capsule, said body having side surfaces thereof impregnated with the medicinal powder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 706,778 Pond Aug. 12, 1902 812,769 Pond Feb. 13, 1906 940,519 Eastman Nov. 16, 1909 

